Essays on Church, State, and Politics

Chapter V

475 u chapter v u On the Duties of Lords and Servants§1. We have shown in the first book that the master-servant relationship did not exist in the state of innocence.§2. Even in the postlapsarian state there was no need for such a society, as long as the community of goods existed and there were no distinct claims of ownership. For need is the ultimate origin of such a society. But when goods are common to all, there can be no owner who aims to acquire something for himself rather than allowing others to have it. Nor can there be a servant who subjects himself to the ownership of another for the sake of receiving sustenance.§3. But following the emergence of exclusive ownership [dominium] every head of household had to take care to acquire, administrate, and preserve the means necessary for sustaining his family. Other people, however, lacked these means and were incapable of acquiring them by their own ingenuity. It was, therefore, necessary that the former sought a servant and used him as a household tool, and that the latter looked around for a master from whom he could expect nourishment for his efforts.§4. And so the purpose of the society formed by the master-servant relationship is, on the part of the master, the acquisition and preservation of material wealth; on the part of the servant it is his sustenance through nourishment. 476 institutes of divine jurisprudence§5. But even if mutual need impels humans to enter this master-servant relationship, it still normally requires mutual consent for its existence.§6. But this purpose, which is intended by the master, shows that consent in the master-servant relationship by nature requires subjection on the part of the servant and the power to command on the part of the master.§7. For the acquisition and preservation of goods vary in infinite ways, because of the infinite variety of circumstances. Therefore, these forms cannot be fixed in the formal agreement on which this society is based, but must be left to the future determination of one of the contracting parties , to be set out whenever there is a need for it.§8. Since, therefore, the master is the principal cause there and the servant has the role of a tool, it is necessary that the master direct the actions of the servant.§9. And (if you abstract from civil laws) he must do so using coercion, to the extent that this is necessary for obtaining this purpose, because without coercion the direction of these actions would be futile.§10. This coercion usually cannot take the form of severe physical punishment , let alone punishment by death on the basis of the master’s own authority, because the purpose of a society based on the master-servant relationship is not achieved through such punishments. These forms of punishment do not correct the servants’ negligence in the performance of their work, nor do they improve their manners in accordance with decorum and tranquillity within the family.§11. If the servant is guilty of a severe crime against someone outside the family, he can be expelled. And in the absence of a political commonwealth that is sufficient for the victim. If the crime was directed against the family itself, the master can adopt extreme measures to punish the servant, not as a servant but as an enemy. book iii 477§12. Thus, in sum, the duty of the servant is contained in this precept: “Perform the work you have promised to your master.” That of the master is, “Pay your servant the agreed-upon wage.”§13. Moreover, depending on the degree of lack of ingenuity or of stupidity , a servant either tends to commit himself to perpetual servitude to a master or does so for a short and fixed period, sometimes even for particular labor services.§14. In the latter case the agreed wage has to be paid and the work to be done. In the former the master must provide nourishment and whatever else is necessary for life, while the servant must do all the work given to him by the master and faithfully hand over to his master whatever are the fruits of this work.§15. But in imposing labors the master must take account of the servant’s strength and dexterity and not make harsh demands that exceed his powers.§16...